This invention relates to a pitless adapter.
Pitless adapters are used in wells for removing water laterally from the casing below the frost line. Conventional pitless adapters are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,689,611, issued to M. B. Martinson on Sept. 21 1954; 2,841,233, issued to H. W. Maas et al on July 1, 1958; 3,721,296, issued to H. A. Tubbs on Mar. 20, 1973; 3,805,891, issued to N. A. Reinhard et al on Apr. 23, 1974 and 4,298,065, issued to H. A. Baski on Nov. 3, 1981. With each of the adaptors described in these patents, water pumped up a vertical well pipe is discharged laterally through a horizontal pipe buried beneath the frost line (approximately 8 feet below ground level). The devices, which vary in complexity and efficacy, make no provision for the discharge of water from the vertical well pipe through a standard frost free hydrant at the top of the well casing above the pitless adapter.
In the past, using a conventional pitless adapter, the only manner in which water could be obtained outside of the building receiving water from the horizontal discharge pipe, was to install a frost free hydrant at some point along the discharge pipe. The hydrant is exposed to the elements of the soil when buried. Moreover, the hydrant is exposed through the drain hole intended to drain water from the hydrant to below the frost line, to all types of contamination from shallow surface water. The hydrant often becomes plugged or damaged by sand or silt washed into the hydrant through the drain hole.
Applicant's copending Canadian Patent Application Ser. No. 454,203-7, filed May 11, 1984 (corresponding to copending U.S. application Ser. No. 674,110 filed Nov. 21, 1984) proposes a solution to the problems discussed above. The object of the present invention is an alternative, even simpler solution to the problems.